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PROCEEDINGS 




ON THE 



INAUGURATION 



/ 

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE. 






Eleventh Month 10th, 1869. 




PHILADELPHIA: 

MERRIHEW & SON, PRINTERS, 

No. 243 Arch Street, 

1869. 




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INAUGURATION OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE. 



Early in the afternoon, on Fourth-day, the 10th of Eleventh 
month, 1869, a company of about eight hundred, friends of the Col- 
lege, assembled to witness its inauguration. It had been opened for 
the students two days previously. 

An elevated spot east of the building had been selected for the 
planting of trees, designed to commemorate the event. Here the 
company assembled, and our aged friend Lucretia Mott, assisted by 
her son, Thomas Mott, placed in the ground two oaks, which had 
been raised from acorns by the late James Mott, and were con- 
tributed for the purpose, and to serve as fitting memorials of his in- 
terest in the cause of education and in the erection of this College. 

While they were being placed in the ground, George Truman ■ 
made some appropriate explanations, and suggested that as, here- 
after, they interlock their boughs, they will suggest the beautiful 
blending of the lives of James and Lucretia Mott. 

The happy effect of perpetuating the memories of early life by 
the planting of trees, which, as they grow, beautifully typify the 
progress of our lives, while they serve to recall, as in this case, 
events calculated to give direction to and to make their impress 
upon our characters, was happily referred to. 

This interesting scene was photographed in a remarkably accu- 
rate group by Henry M. Phillips, of Philadelphia, after which those 
who had come from distant places partook of refreshments in the 
dining-room of the College. 

A company of eight of the students had been detailed to have 
care of the seating of the audience in the Lecture Hall, which, as 
3 o'clock drew near, was completely filled, and yet scarcely any one 
was unduly crowded or obliged to stand. The centre of the hall 
was occupied by the students, about 170 in number, the side seats 
and gallery by most of the adults, and the ample platform by the 
managers, officers and leading friends of the College, and by some 
of the more venerable of those, assembled. . 



Samuel Willets, of New York, presided, and the proceedings were 
rera-arkably orderly and dignified. It was the intention to read at 
the meeting the following letter received by the President, but the 
time not being sufficient, its publication was directed instead. 

Sandy Spring, Md., 10th month 16. 1869. 
Edward Parrish, 

President of Swarthmore College. 

My Bear Friend: — I was in Philadelphia when thy kind letter of 
the 10th inst. came to our office, inviting me to attend the opening 
of Swarthmore School on the 21st ; and I did not receive it till 
to-day. 

Having been absent from home the greater part of the last three 
months on business connected with the Indians, the gratification will 
be denied me of being present on the interesting occasion to which 
thy letter refers ; an occasion rendered more interesting, from its 
being the consummation of what has been so long desired, attained 
through untiring perseverance and labor. My best wishes are with 
you and it. It cannot but be a success ; the same patient industry 
and financial liberality, which have gradually and successfully 
caused it to grow to its present imposing dimensions, as the inani- 
mate body, will impart to it vitality and intellect, till it becomes a 
living existence of wide-spreading good, shedding its illuminations 
and benign influences far around it, through a long series of gen- 
erations yet to come. 

It will have difficulties to contend with ; these we are bound to 
expect, and must be prepared for. No far-renowned institution of 
learning is ever founded without them ; they seem indispensable, 
like the storm to the oak, to impart stability and permanency to its 
foundations. But, with that Light which is Friends' Guiding Star, 
and that Strength which is always vouchsafed to the sincere advocates 
of the True, the Beautiful, and the Good, which embrace the whole 
icircle of Science, and constitute the great objects of the institution, 
the Directors and friends of the College will successfuly triumph over 
them all. 

With my whole heart I can say, may your labors be crowned with 
the blessing of the everlasting Father, sanctifying them to the lasting 
benefit of the precious children who may be, from time to time, in- 
mates of the Institution. 

Thy sincere friend, 

Benj. Hallowell. 



At the call of the presiding officer, Hugh Mcllvain, Chairman of 
the Building Committee, now stepped forward and laid the key of 
the front door of the College, and a large file of receipted bills 
upon the desk, stating that the building, though not in all particu- 
lars completed, is now fit for occupancy. The sum expended upon 
it has been $205,480, receipts for which were now handed for ex- 
amination by the Board of Managers. 

The entire length of the building is 348 feet, with return wings of 
92 feet each ; it consists of a center building 60 feet wide by 110 
feet 8 inches deep, on either side of which are fire-proof alcoves 
containing iron stairs, and wings extending from either side of these, 
each 100 feet by 44 feet wide ; the return wings are also 44 feet 
wide, with towers on the inner flanks 11 feet in the clear. The 
kitchen building in the rear is 60 feet deep by 44 feet wide. An 
ample laundry building has also been erected, though not yet fin- 
ished. The entire structure is heated by steam from boilers located 
in the basement of the laundry, and is lighted by gas from a reser- 
voir located 150 feet from the nearest point of the building. 

After stating the dimensions and general characteristics of the 
building, the Chairman of the Building Committee concluded by 
resigning it to the Board of Managers. 

Samuel Willets, on behalf of the Managers and Stockholders of 
the College, thanked the Building Committee for their faithfulness 
and efficiency, remarking upon the rigid economy practiced by them 
without sacrificing the completeness or the permanence of the 
building. 

He then transferred the key to the President selected to have 
charge of the building and its inmates, and with much feeling ex- 
horted him and all those associated with him to a faithful discharge 
of the responsible trust reposed in them by the Board of Managers. 

Edward Parrish, President of the College, then read the following 
Inaugural Address : 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

With thankful hearts, as with cordial congratulations, we have 
met to inaugurate a new era in our work — to take another important 
step in the progress of S war th more College. 

The event we celebrate may seem a small item in the vast sum of 
human affairs which the present revolution of the earth will bring 
to light, yet to most of those here collected, and to many whose 
sympathies are with us, though they are necessarily absent, it is very 



6 

far from unimportant. This day culminates a long and arduous 
labor which, under the skilful guidance of the Chairman of the Build- 
ing Committee, has produced an edifice not second in completeness 
and permanence to any heretofore erected in our country for the 
purposes of education. 

Some of you will recur with emotions of pleasure to the meeting 
convened on this spot on the 10th of Fifth month, 1866, just three 
years and a half gone by, when we hopefully and prayerfully laid 
the corner-stone of this structure. Then this vast pile was only seen in 
the imagination of the architect and of the committee entrusted with 
its erection; now it is a substantial house, combining apartments for 
education and for living — a school and a home, comely to look upon, 
commodious and comfortable; from its situation and appointments 
a fit residence for a large number of youth whose physical and mental 
characteristics will be hourly influenced by their surroundings. 

Let me here, in justice, say of our friend Hugh Mcllvain, who 
has just resigned the key to the Board of Managers who appointed 
him, that no one could have given more intelligent thought and 
energy to the noble work of construction with a view to his own 
aggrandizement, or to add to his own comfort, than he and his 
worthy and efficient colleague, Edward Hoopes, have given gratui- 
tously to serve their friends and to secure a fitting home for the 
future students of Swarthmore College. To this let me add a further 
remark, made advisedly, that in the erection of this building, strict 
economy has been combined with neatness and great permanence, 
showing that these rare and desirable qualities may be secured by 
untiring vigilance and a conscientious attention to detail, even on 
the part of committees entrusted with large sums for purposes of 
public utility. 

The retrospect of the nine years which have elapsed since the meet- 
ing held in Baltimore, Tenth month 2d, 1860, in which it was first 
proposed to erect a new institution of learning under the care of 
Friends, designed to equal the best colleges in the land, is indeed 
full of interest to us all. Not only have we learned much in the 
progress of the work, but our friendships have been cemented by fre- 
quent intercourse and by varied experience, so that w T e have become 
remarkably knit together in singleness of purpose and in har- 
monious action. We have had periods of discouragement, have en- 
countered some opposition and much indifference, and have had 
to assume again and again the thankless task of soliciting pecuniary 
aid ; but the work has gone forward steadily, till now it approaches 



the period we have so long and anxiously looked for, when the 
sound of the trowel and hammer is to give place to that of human 
speech, busy with the work of instruction, and oftentimes made elo- 
quent with the great truths of science and religion. We ought to 
be reverently thankful that we have been permitted to carry on 
such a work, and to see it so far completed as already to promise 
an abundant reward. The common lot of men, devoted to narrow 
and selfish interests, has no enjoyments to compare with those 
which flow from being associated with others in harmonious labors 
for any great purpose of public beneficence. 

A peculiarity of this organization, as contrasted with most others 
for like purposes, is the association of women equally with men 
in its origin and management. To the women of the household and 
furnishing committees we are especially indebted for such admirable 
provision for the comfort of all the inmates of this house, that it is 
believed very few who shall reside in it will be less favorably cir- 
cumstanced than in the homes they have left. I need not name 
those ladies to whom this commendation most especially applies; 
suffice it that they have the thanks of all interested in the future 
of Swarthmore College. 

It will be expected that in the limited time allotted to me for this 
discourse I should speak briefly of the educational policy and 
other leading characteristics of this college. The question will be 
asked, Is it indeed a college, or a boarding-school, in the common ac- 
ceptation of the terms ? I reply, it is designed to embrace all 
the advanced branches of knowledge taught in the colleges, but, like 
everything else that is valuable, it must have time to grow and de- 
velop. 

The companion oaks we have just transferred to our lawn were 
a few years ago deposited as acorns by the hands of a dear friend 
now gone to his reward. Some of these children may live to see 
them majestic sylvan giants, destined to spread their broad branches 
over successive generations of students who will frequent these 
grounds long after the builders of this house are forgotten. 

So the seed planted by Benjamin Hallowell, Martha E. Tyson 
and their associates, in 1860, has grown to this extent, that we 
have here in this goodly home 170 young p«ople mostly eager to 
acquire an education, and have provided a fit corps of professors and 
teachers who will give them the advantages of their own liberal cul- 
ture and large experience. Who shall tell what the steady growth of 



8 

half a century shall bring forth in the enlargement of the sphere 
and the improvement of the facilities of the College ? 

We have not, however, postponed the formation of a College 
Class, but from the material before us have already succeeded in 
organizing the graduating class of 1873. 

It would hardly be expected that under the circumstances in 
which this institution has been established there should be a re- 
strictive policy adopted in the reception of its first students. Many 
have subscribed for its erection with a view to the education of chil- 
dren not yet sufficiently advanced in age or in preparation to enter 
a college class ; others are obliged by restricted means to forego the 
advantages of liberal education — a few, perhaps, as yet fail to appre- 
ciate these advantages. The wants of all will be met now in its first 
opening, and a large majority of the students already classified are 
in the three classes of the preparatory school. Those entering the 
lowest of these classes at this time with the intention of acquiring 
the diploma of the College, will pursue a continuous seven years' 
course of training, designed to develop their intellectual capacities 
and to fill their minds with objects of interest and instruction — de- 
signed to fit them for the varied duties of public and private life, and 
for elevated and refined social and intellectual enjoyments. 

Science, covering all classified knowledge, only allows the mastery 
of one portion of its vast domain by insisting that the remainder 
should be at least partially acquired, so that education cannot be 
thorough if it is one-sided. No man has a powerful, intellectual 
grasp, who does not include a wide and comprehensive view of ac- 
quired knowledge. To some this wide view is almost intuitive, but 
by most men it is only gained as the result of patient labor and of 
well-directed application, in early life. To supply an opportunity 
for such labor, and give it proper guidance and direction, is the object 
of such institutions as this. 

In the construction of this great building after the plans were 
matured, each department of the labor was parcelled out and de- 
tailed. To one master workman was allotted the quarrying of the 
stone, to another the laying of this in massive walls ; one made brick, 
and another built them into inside partitions and chimneys ; then 
came the roofers, the carpenters, the plasterers, the painters and gla- 
ziers, the plumbers, and, lastly, our skilful and energetic engi- 
neer, who warmed and lighted the house. So in the scheme of 
education we now project, we shall need a division of labor ; and 



no one workman can be spared without rendering the whole incom- 
plete. 

Six lines of study run through our whole course ; — these I mention, 
not in any assumed order of precedence or importance, but each 
as filling an equal and necessary place in the general plan ; — 
Mathematics, Natural and Physical Sciences, Language, History 
and Geography, Literature, Intellectual and Moral Philosophy. 

For instruction in Mathematics, ample provision has been made 
both in the organization of the Preparatory School and of the College. 
Astronomy, its crowning branch of Science, can only be adequately 
taught to advanced classes and by the use of apparatus not yet 
supplied, but which, we doubt not, will be procured when there 
are students properly prepared to explore the regions of space. 
During the present session we expect to enjoy the presence, for a 
limited time, of the eminent Professor of Astronomy in Vassar Col- 
lege, Maria Mitchell, who will give a short course of lectures to our 
students. 

Natural History and Chemistry, which go hand in hand with 
the Modern Science of Physics in interpreting the phenomena and 
forms of the material universe, have recently taken a much higher 
place than formerly in collegiate instruction. A more enlightened 
appreciation of the true relations of genera and species has made 
Botany, Mineralogy, Geolugy, Comparative Anatomy, Physiology 
and kindred branches exceedingly valuable, as teaching habits of 
accurate observation and comparison, while preparing the student 
to appreciate and understand the material world with which we 
are surrounded. 

Chemistry, apart from innumerable practical applications, has 
its uses as an incentive to, and discipline of, the powers of invention 
and thought. There is scarcely an art pursued as the result of 
our advanced civilization but is promoted by chemical knowledge. 
The farmer, the manufacturer, the merchant, the lawyer and the 
physician is each aided in his calling, beside being greatly elevated 
in his conceptions of the perfection of Nature's laws, by this science 
of experiment and analysis. 

The sciences of observation and classification are best adapted 
to pupils in the Preparatory School, and of these Botany, as per. 
taining to objects everywhere accessible, will claim a prominent 
place ; our surrounding hill-sides will furnish in season a great variety 
of specimens, and their collection and preservation wholesome re- 
creation from more sedentary employments. A course on Zoology* 



10 

by an enthusiastic and competent lecturer, will occupy a portion 
of the time allotted to Natural History, during the next session. 

In attempting to impart instruction in Chemistry and Physics, 
as part of an Elementary Course of Education, great care is 
required not to decrease their value as means of developing habits 
of scientific accuracy. They cannot be profitably presented as 
studies until their wonderful numerical relations can be fully ap- 
preciated, nor can they take a high place in Education unless taught 
practically. Hence our plans include a laboratory for Chemical 
Analysis and for the practice of Photography — a modern art of 
such great utility, and so admirably adapted to furnish young peo- 
ple with congenial employment, that for its introduction we shall 
only await the means to purchase the necessary apparatus. 

To our less advanced classes, I propose to give instruction of a 
kind peculiarly adapted as a preparation for systematic scientific 
study. It will consist of a description of the properties, sources, 
and uses of familiar things, organic and inorganic, natural and arti- 
ficial. To the student who should fail thereafter to prosecute the 
classified or scientific study of Chemistry and Natural History, this 
will at least give a knowledge of many points in connection with 
objects surrounding him, imparting interest to them throughout his 
life. Here, mention should be made of the necessity, in such a col- 
lege as this, of cabinets of Natural History, so extensive as to enable 
teachers fully to illustrate their lectures, and to present to the eye of 
the student, types of creation in its varied forms. Toward this end 
we have already some contributions, not yet arranged in our Mu- 
seum, embracing minerals, shells, and specimens illustrative of 
Geology, Botany, and other departments of Natural Science. A 
collection of 400 specimens of the birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles of 
Chester County, Pa., prepared by our friend Dr. Ezra Michener, has 
been secured to the College, through his liberality and that of Ed- 
ward Hoopes, — another added to the numerous obligations under 
which the last named, amember of our Board, has placed us. 

Instruction in the ancient and modern languages is esteemed an 
important part of our course. In studying the symbols by which 
the mind of man in all ages has attempted to communicate with its 
fellows, we study the mind itself in its various stages of develop- 
ment. As the geologist examines fossils deposited vast ages ago 
upon the surface of our planet, so the philologist labors over the ob- 
scure tracks of human thought revealed in fossil words ; dead in 
themselves as to any apparent utility, but full of vitality as ill us- 



11 

trating the progress of the mind of man. It has been well said 
that he who thoroughly masters a new language, thereby acquires 
twice the mastery of his own, and throughout the rest of his life, in 
using the noble gift of speech, which most distinguishes us from the 
lower animals, he is, to say the least, a richer and more cultivated 
man for having in his youth enjoyed this privilege. 

To combine obvious utility, as much as may be, with the mental 
drill which the study of language affords, we have partially replaced 
the so-called dead languages with those of nations w T ith which we 
are in frequent intercourse, and which are largely represented on 
the American continent. Of the modern languages, the student 
may pursue French and German ; of the ancient, Greek and Latin. 
The last mentioned, universally recognized as an indispensable 
requisite to a thorough knowledge of our own tongue, is required 
during a part of our course ; the rest are, under certain restrictions, 
elective. 

The studies of History and of English Literature are peculiarly 
appropriate to a system of advanced education, and will extend 
throughout our seven year's course. History traces the development 
of mankind, from the earliest period of which we have any account, 
step by step, to its present condition ; points to individuals, nations, 
and events, as land-marks on the long road ; and especially pre- 
sents the manifest overruling of a Providence, who, for his own good 
purpose, evolves results unlooked for by finite vision. It will readily 
be seen that years of careful investigation would be required for a 
subject so universal. The teacher can only serve as a guide, paus- 
ing at the important stopping-places, calling attention to the periods 
that have most affected the world's progress, and, above all, exciting 
an interest and spirit of research, that in after years, with more time 
at command than can be given in the most extended collegiate course, 
will lead to a comprehensive view of the history of the race. 

The Geography of a country being so closely connected with its 
history, the student will always be required to study and recite with 
maps, which are quite as essential as text-books. And now that 
the arts of engraving and photography bring us into immediate 
relation with other countries, we hope, by the thoughtful kindness of 
friends, to have portfolios of views and portraits to illustrate each 
subject, heightening thereby the impression produced. 

The study of the literature of our own language will claim the 
attention of the student, not only as a means of intellectual growth, 
but also as a refining influence upon the taste and imagination. 



12 

Through the art preservative of all arts, we are placed in commu- 
nication with highly-gifted minds of our own and past eras ; and if 
we have the requisite taste and cultivation, may wander with poets 
and philosophers through the Elysian groves which their genius and 
cultivation have enabled them to create ; we may, at small cost, 
embellish our common-place lives with the companionship of the 
great and good, and fill up the intervals of toil with pure and profita- 
ble intellectual enjoyments. The elevating pursuits of literature 
are too much ignored by many parents grown old in the toil and 
bustle of life ; the children of some of these will bring back with 
them from Swarthmore, a fund of literary wealth, with which to 
adorn and refresh their homes. 

In the midst of the flood of literature, good and bad, which the 
newspaper and magazine are ever distributing, it is fitting that Edu- 
cation, which, in this country, teaches all to read, should in its more 
advanced stages, furnish the taste and discrimination necessary to 
distinguish that which is worthless or pernicious, from that which is 
wholesome and improving. 

The department of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy, which is 
approached with great deference in an institution but just stepping 
into the ranks of advanced education, will be appropriately preceded 
in the several classes now organized by such instructions, in the ele- 
ments of morality as are appropriate to the mental development 
of each. Swarthmore College would, perhaps, never have been built 
but for the deep-seated conviction in the minds of its founders that 
intellectual culture is only valuable as it is joined with influences 
calculated to mould the character into forms of purity and truth. 
The Society of Friends chiefly aims, by its system of training, to de- 
velop the innate germs of truth and goodness implanted by the 
Creator in every soul. As these are cultivated and grow, their effect 
is to choke out the weeds which would otherwise mar and deface 
the garden of the heart, preventing the perfect development of that 
fruit which is to nourish up the soul unto eternal life. 

To this outline of our system of training, I might add much which, 
perhaps, needs to be said. If time allowed, I should speak of the 
opportunities which we already possess, and others which are in 
prospect, for every one entrusted to our care to enjoy, naturally and 
spontaneously, wholesome exercise, free play of the muscles, and 
plenty of fresh air, essentials to the complete success of any educa- 
tional system. 

In concluding these remarks, an allusion to myself and the position 



13 

I occupy as the head of this Institution will be in place. If I have 
labored without ceasing, and, as some may have thought, too zeal- 
ously, in the great work of creating this College, it has been from a 
constant sense of duty to the cause of sound education, and from 
a sincere love of the principles which underlie the movement; and 
since the judgment of my nearest friends and this Board of Managers 
has accorded with my own conviction that I am to be yet further 
devoted to it, I have, with the sympathy and support of my com- 
panion in life, accepted the cares, responsibilities and privations in- 
volved in a residence here, which, albeit, are not without their com- 
pensations, in congenial pursuits and the society of cultivated and 
refined associates ; and trusting to the guidance and support of the 
overruling Providence, who shapes our destinies and rules our hearts, 
if we give ourselves to serve his cause, I accept this key, ready at 
any time to yield it to a successor when it shall appear that I am 
incompetent or unworthy to hold it. 

John D. Hicks, of New York, being introduced, spoke as follows : 

Friends, Contributors, and Patrons of Swarthmore College : 

I have been requested to speak in behalf of the managers 
and contributors of New York — that we might join in the general 
rejoicing that we must all feel this day in the opening of this college. 
The hopes we have long cherished, and the expectations which in- 
spire us, should find to-day their appropriate expression. 

My friends, in making this request of me, certainly could not 
have been influenced in the choice by any special qualification that I 
possess for the service, being one of the youngest of the Board of 
Managers, and but little practiced in speaking. It nevertheless is 
perhaps fitting that a representative voice from the more youthful 
class should be heard. As such, and claiming your kind indulgence, 
I will venture to make a few brief remarks. 

It is but proper that we should acknowledge, on this occasion* 
the uniform courtesy and spirit of co-operation which our Pennsyl- 
vania friends have extended towards us of New York. I might 
say, in perfect truth, that we have known, in the establishment of 
this college, no State limits, or local prejudices, to mar our pro- 
gress, and as we have begun, I trust we shall continue. The general 
claims of education, its indispensability, and the urgent demands of 
our age, have been so o'ten and ably stated, that any further remarks 
from me would seem unnecessary, yet, as we view things from the 



14 

stand-point of our individuality, we are sometimes constrained to 
offer them, at the risk of their seeming superfluity. 

In adding this college to the list of hundreds already established 
in our country, we but recognize a common need, and the number 
of pupils that are here to-day amply attest that we have not pro- 
vided for a demand that did not exist, but we have furnished in 
Swarthmore a college with certain distinctive peculiarities. Besides 
the general matter of education, according to the most approved 
methods of the times, we have superadded a system for the joint 
education of the sexes, carrying out the principle we have long recog- 
nized in our Society of equal rights, not for all men, but for all men 
and women. We not only propose to give them equal opportunities 
for culture, but equal rewards and honors as a measure for their 
attainments. In this joint education we will but imitate the natu- 
ral order of our lives. Observation abundantly teaches us that the 
greatest happiness, the highest moral and social attainments, are 
produced by the joint influence of the two sexes. Acting and re- 
acting on each other, a healthful stimulus will be felt that will not 
only facilitate study and aid in government, but tend to preserve 
the home influence. We hope in so doing to prepare the mind of 
the students of Swarthmore with a more correct idea of social life, 
so that when they leave the college and go out into the world they 
will do it under circumstances more favorable for their best in- 
terests than could have been had their education been separate. 
We undertake this peculiarity of our scheme of instruction with 
confident expectations of the best results. 

Our college, associated by name with Friends, and established 
by them and those in sympathy with their views, might be expected 
to be sectarian in its character, and in one sense it may be so ; but 
in another, a broader and more correct one, we trust it will not be. 
We have no creed, no confession of faith, or formalism in worship. 
We propose, so far as practicable, to influence the students in the 
recognition of general principles of well-doing ; that each individual 
is sovereign in his responsibility to the higher law of his Creator, 
manifested in his own heart, from the dictates of which spring all 
the Christian virtues ; leaving all questions of theology for indi- 
vidual judgment, and disclaiming the right of any to dictate. 

This we claim to be too broad for sectarianism, and we trust the 
students of Swarthmore will leave its walls impressed with principles 
which all their after-knowledge and reflection will only deepen and 
comfirm, but never contradict. We will endeavor to establish 



15 

principles and leave the application to individual minds, knowing 
well that in their application they must needs assume diversity of 
forms, from the fact that our beliefs are more a matter of inheri- 
tance, and a result of surrounding influences, than any distinct 
creation of our own. 

There is happily a growing recognition of the intimate connec- 
tion between human thought and human society. Give the right 
impulse to the one, and the other follows, as a natural sequence. 

How far these anticipations shall be realized, and the minds of 
the students awakened to a love of knowledge, and trained by the 
best methods for its acquisition, will largely depend on the President, 
professors, and their assistants. In the selection of the President 
the managers have chosen one of middle age in life, neither want- 
ing in the ripening influence of time nor crystallized by the conserva- 
tism of age — a man of the times. We trust he and his assistants 
will meet the wants of the day. 

We do not doubt they are all influenced by the best intentions, 
but success will depend more on how scrupulously they become 
students of the situation, and careful observers of the phenomena of 
daily experience. When we consider the ever-widening fields of 
knowledge, the new secrets that nature is constantly revealing to 
those who patiently and diligently seek her truths, added to all 
that has preceded it, the responsibility of instructors becomes mani- 
fest — for at most our education must be now, more than ever before, 
but a guide, a start to future attainments — and our school days must 
be considered more as an apprenticeship to the labors of after life. 

The wants we are providing for now will exist in the future no 
less than the present. May Swarthmore become the foster mother to 
thousands who will seek her halls, is the hope that inspires us to-day, 
and looking down the vista of coming years, we also hope it may be 
said, we builded better than we knew. 

William Dorsey, of Philadelphia, next addressed the meeting. 

He commenced by saying that it was with no ordinary emotion 
that he viewed the result of the labors of the past eight years, in 
this building, nearly completed, and already tenanted by so many 
of the class for whom it was erected ; and in continuation, spoke 
nearly, as follows : 

" I desire to say that this College had its origin in a deeply settled 
conviction that it was essential to the preservation of our Society 
relations, that our youth shonld be enabled to obtain an education 



16 

according to the demands of the advanced civilization of the age — 
under the guarded religious care of Friends. 

" During the past thirty years, while we have been deliberating as 
a Society upon this great necessity, many of our youth, who have 
sought to obtain in various institutions of learning which surround 
us the education we were unable to supply, have gone from us not 
to return, and have thus been lost to us in an associated capacity. 
Now we have a College under our own control, the diploma of 
which, we hope, will some day be equal to those of the best institu- 
tions of learning in the land. 

" Allusion has been made by the last speaker to the subject of 
theology. It is true we do not recognize it as a branch of educa- 
tion, technically speaking, and although it may be said we have no 
written creed like unto the sects, we have a belief, a deep, abiding 
faith, based upon the Divine precepts and holy life of the Son of 
God, in their pure and simple integrity, without the manipulations 
of man. We believe that building upon this foundation can alone 
perfect the human character, and hope by this means to send from 
these walls all those committed to our care so trained that they 
shall be known in the world as honest men and women, bearing the 
fruits of purity and holiness." 

Lucretia Mott followed, expressing her deep interest in the Col- 
lege, and her hope that it would never degenerate into a mere sec- 
tarian school, but that its teachings would be so comprehensive 
and free from theological bias, that those who receive them will 
be prepared to recognize good wherever found. The voice of Truth 
is so plain, and so universally applicable, that all may hear it in 
their own tongue in which they were born. She also referred to the 
skepticism which sometimes grows out of the study of Science when 
unaccompanied by religious faith, and feelingly recited the follow- 
ing lines of Cowper: 

... Never yet did philosophic tube 
That brings the planets home into the eye 
Of observation, and discovers, else 
Not visible, His family of worlds, 
Discover Him that rules them ; such a veil 
Hangs over mortal eyes, blind from the birth, 
And dark in things divine. Full often, too, 
Our wayward intellect, the more we learn 
Of Nature, overlooks her Author more ; 
From instrumental causes proud to draw 
Conclusions retrograde and mad mistake. 



17 

But if His word once teach us, shoot a ray 

Through all the heart's dark chambers and reveal 

Truths undiscovered but by that holy light, 

Then all is plain. Philosophy, baptized 

In the pure fountain of eternal love, 

Has eyes indeed ; and viewing all she sees 

As meant to indicate a God to man, 

Gives Him his praise, and forfeits not her own. 

By the order of proceedings previously agreed upon, it was ar- 
ranged that the students should withdraw at this stage of the 
meeting. Before doing so they were addressed by Samuel Willets, 
nearly as follows : 

" I have been much interested in beholding the countenances of 
the students now before me, and hope they will act well their part, 
that they may by industry and attention be prepared to discharge, 
hereafter, the important and responsible duties of the family, the 
neighborhood and the State, which duties will soon devolve upon 
them. And I hope that in their intercourse with each other, and 
with the Professors and teachers, their actions may be marked by 
love and kindness toward all, and that they will render prompt and 
cheerful compliance with all the rules and regulations of this Insti- 
tution, thereby making their residence here pleasant and agreeable 
to themselves and to those who have charge of them. And to the 
President, Professors and Teachers — I hope that you will admin, 
ister the affairs of this College with great firmness, tempered by 
kindness and love, — remembering that the mercy-seat was to cover 
the judgment-seat to an hair's breadth. 

" Friends, now let us retire in silence in our own minds, and 
see if we cannot feel grateful to the Author of all good for the 
progress we have been able to make, and to crave assistance to 
finish the work." 

William Dorsey implored the Divine blessing in nearly the 
following language : ., 

" Almighty Father, deeply sensible that we cannot accomplish 
any good work without thy aid, we ask that thy blessing may rest 
upon our efforts and secure the fulfilment of this great work. Be 
with those especially, we pray thee, upon whom rests the responsi- 
bility of training the minds of the children committed to our care. 
Hear thou their secret prayers and clothe them with wisdom profit- 
able to direct in all things. Pour out of thy Spirit upon their 
spirits and upon those of the children — so that their lives may show 



18 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



028 321 998 7 



forth thy glory, and theirs be the blessed reward, to enjoy thee 
forever." 

Before dismissing the students, the Chairman further said : " And 
now, O Father! we pray that the blessing of Heaven may rest upon 
this Institution ; on its President, on the Professors and Teachers, 
on its household, and upon us all. Amen." 

FURTHER PROCEEDINGS. 

The company remaining were asked to consider the financial ne- 
cessities of the College, which are still great, — the funds heretofore 
subscribed being barely sufficient to fit the building for use, leaving 
much of the furniture yet to be provided for, and the grounds to be 
planted. A gymnasium, chemical laboratory, library, museum of 
natural history and the arts, astronomical observatory, and other 
necessities of an institution of liberal learning, — all remain to be 
supplied by the contributions of those who have means to devote 
to objects of public beneficence. 

If time had allowed, it is believed that those present would have 
contributed sufficient to meet all the immediate necessities of the 
College ; but the hour of starting of the train being near at hand, 
the company was obliged to separate without a sufficient sum being 
subscribed to warrant any additional expenditure for promoting its 
educational facilities. 



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